German activists take EU-Canada trade deal to Constitutional Court

BERLIN (Reuters) - Activists delivered what they said was
Germany's biggest-ever public complaint to the Constitutional
Court on Wednesday, hoping it will scupper a trade agreement
between the European Union and Canada.

The deal, which some see as a template for an
EU-U.S. agreement still being negotiated, is the EU's most
ambitious trade pact to date and could increase trade between the
two areas by some 20 percent.

It would eliminate tariffs on 98 percent of
goods immediately. It also would encompass regulatory
cooperation, shipping, sustainable development and access to
government tenders. But its ratification faces obstacles.

Although proponents say it could add some
11.6 billion euros a year to the EU economy, many EU voters are
skeptical about the benefits and fear it would give multinational
corporations greater access to European markets without creating
jobs.

The three German groups - Campact, foodwatch
and More Democracy - arrived at the Karlsruhe court with a lorry
containing 70 boxes of documents with 125,000 signatures.

They argue the Comprehensive Economic and
Trade Agreement (CETA) breaches Germany's constitution and want
the court in Karlsruhe to stop the implementation of the deal
before (official) ratification by EU states.

The European Commission hopes that the
governments of the EU states can approve it before a planned
EU-Canada summit at the end of October. The European Parliament
would also need to vote to allow it to enter force provisionally
next year.

But national, and some regional, parliaments would still need to
ratify it. A trade agreement with Korea took effect provisionally
in 2011 but was not fully ratified until four years later.

The German groups insist this process
undermines democracy because citizens would be excluded from the
decision-making.

"The temporary implementation of CETA is
immensely dangerous because it creates a reality," said the
groups.

"Democratically non-legitimate committees
and investor- friendly mediation courts would start work ... all
without the agreement of the lower house of parliament," they
added.

They also argue that the agreement would make
it more difficult to improve environmental or health protection.

Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the
Social Democrats (SPD), who share power with Chancellor Angela
Merkel's conservatives, has said the EU-U.S. trade deal has
effectively failed, but he backs CETA.

France also has doubts about the future of a U.S. agreement,
although it supports CETA, which includes an EU proposal on the
contentious issue of settling investor-state disputes.

Gabriel’s Social Democrats vote on the
EU-Canada deal on Sept. 19. If they reject the agreement, it
might be difficult for Gabriel, who is expected to run against
Merkel in next year's election, to support it at a meeting of
trade ministers in Bratislava four days later.